MAGNETIC SOUND MACHINE

This is their second album. It is claimed that this band plays jazz with a lot of influences from post rock and electronica. That may be the case for their debut album. But it is not the case here. This album is a pretty straight forward jazz album with some fusion elements. I am a total newbie in jazz and eager to learn more and get much more into this genre......... phew, a very long sentence..... so I I am not the right person to tell you what kind of jazz this is. But in my untrained ears, they sounds like a mix of Soft Machine, Gilgamesh, Hatfield & The North and Return To Forever. The music on this album is leaning towards Canterbury in my ears.

The playing is energetic and lively. But the band sometimes also slows down the tempo and sounds like Hatfield & The North. But most of the jazz here is straight forward with woodwinds and keyboards solos.

The reason why I am starting to like jazz more and more is albums like this album. Not all is great and well on this album. I suspect there are far better jazz albums out there than this one. But I find the sound very good and so for the songs too. This is indeed a very good album and recommended.

3.5 stars